Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Open Letter to Mitch McConnell

The sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia sent shockwaves through the nation in general and political process in particular this weekend. Arguably more shocking than the death of a 79 year old man from a heart attack was the immediate "spin" from Speaker McConnell's office that (and I quote):

The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.

This is self-serving sophistry. The American people do have a voice in any nomination Obama makes. They “spoke” when they elected him to a second term that has 11 months remaining. His authority to nominate Supreme Court justices is no more diminished by his supposed lame-duck status than any of his other constitutional powers.

I was raised by Goldwater Republicans to honor our legacy as a constitutional democracy. I was taught -- and I still believe -- that with all its flaws our system of governance remains the best hope of representing the greatest number of citizens toward the goal of liberty and justice for all to which we aspire as a nation.

Raised with those values, I am quite frankly gobsmacked at your utter abdication of the Senate oath you swore to protect our Constitution against all enemies -- foreign and domestic -- expressed in your indefensible position that the duly elected President of the United States should abdicate his constitutional responsibility to fill the now vacant Supreme Court seat.

We are better people than that, Mr. McConnell. My Republican parents taught me that. Please reconsider your ludicrously partisan position for the sake of this country we all love.

1 comment:

My personal position on the matter is that the Senate should go ahead and call in the President's nominee and hold hearings. My guess is that whoever Pres. Obama nominates will view the Constitution as a "living" document that Justices should interpret in different ways depending on circumstances to reach what the Justice thinks is the culturally appropriate outcome. The Senators should then compare this to what Justice Scalia once said - "It's a legal document. It says some things and does not say others." - and then publicly reject his nominee on the basis that it's the job of the legislatures (Congress in the case of the law and the State legislatures in the case of a Constitutional amendment), not the judiciary, to fit the law to society's needs, and ask him to send another. Obama is certainly not going to send them a nominee that WILL, in fact, treat the Constitution like a legal document, so there will be a couple of iterations of this and then it WILL, in fact, be too close to the election, the Senators running for re-election will be out of D.C. and back in their States campaigning and it'll be all over until Jan. 20th, 2017.

But that's not going to happen, because Sen. O'Connell knows that some of the GOP Senators will cave and vote for such a nominee, and he knows that the conservative part of the GOP base will then outright revolt and the Senate will lose it's majority. The Democrats' position is weakened because a) while the President has the right and power to send a nominee to Congress, the Senate has the right and power to refuse to give them a vote (as has happened with 25 of the 160 nominees an American President has sent to the Senate), and b) they themselves in times past have called for similar action when there was a Republican President nearing the end of his term.

Some pundits are claiming that the refusal to hold a vote (or even hearings) will cost the GOP some Senate seats. I don't think so, myself. In order to do that the refusal to hold hearings would have to motivate GOP voters to either stay home or vote Democratic - not exactly likely - or would motivate Democratic-leaning voters who would have otherwise stayed home to get out and vote. I'm thinking that if people who are in the latter category are not motivated by everything else going on to get out and vote, it's unlikely that this will. That's just my personal opinion, I don't have any survey results or anything to back it up.

Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Hillary & Chelsea), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four young adult kids: Jim (married to the awesome Kelly), Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

Bottom Line:

A Comment On Comments

Strongly held perspectives are appreciated. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted. When in doubt, revisit page 305 of the BCP and if what you're typing doesn't meet the "respect the dignity" clause of the Baptismal Covenant then save us both some time and energy and don't hit "send."

DISCLAIMER

This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

Other Cool Stuff I Get To Do

Smart things other people have said you should know about

“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale